Tortuga Life
by Lady Stingray
Summary: Welcome to my bar, stranger. Come sit down, and let me introduce myself. Have yourself a pint, and let me tell you my story...
1. Chapter 1

Well, hello there stranger...never seen you in my bar before. Welcome to Tortuga! Ye be in the Tavern, one of the finest bars in all of the seven seas.

Yes, I have a rather nice little bar here, now, and I try hard to keep it that way when I'm here. I put a lot of work into this old place.

I do suppose that introductions are in order. My name is Anne Alvida O'Hure,...pirate lady named for two of the greatest female pirate captains of yesteryear, better known far and wide as Lady Stingray. Well, at least, that's what most people call me these days, save for my parents and sister, that is, for they just call me Anne. My pirates call me Captain Stingray, Lady Stingray, Stingray,.'Raye, or whatever they can yell out in a pinch.

Ahhhh, I see that look ye be giving me, friend! I really AM the one they call Stingray. I might not look like much, but it's very much the truth.

Oh, but ye must forgive me, I am getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you WHY they call me Stingray, and why I am the Captain of a bunch of pirates.

_This is my story...my past, how I got to be where I am today, and my current adventures._

_**Tortuga Life**_

I was a young Mom, inland of the island of Tortuga, farther in from sea than the infamous pirate port and the rum bars that everyone knows. I lived beside my parents, Michael and Jan O'Hure and my much younger sister, Shay, with my son, Matthew Jack, in a small house back in the valley near a freshwater creek that run from the mountain that jutted up from the middle of the island. There were lots of us more civilized citizens, and we tryed to maintain the life of the island and work as we could to help the island survive, running the bars, working on and building ships, unloading cargo, and catering to the pirates that run in and out of town every few days or so. My home being next to my parents' made it easier for us to help each other and work together, growing fruit trees and keeping a garden together on our lands. My parents had more land than I did, and their home was bigger, but all I needed was room for Matt and myself. We were living well for the most part, as most of our families came from other countries, and were the very ones that established the islands, and our generations just stayed there to escape their previous lives. After all, most of the pirates were refugees just like us, and were decent people, just wound up on the wrong side of a deal or in trouble sometime in their life, and were just doing what they had to do to survive. That was pretty much my story. I had fell for a guy I THOUGHT came from an aristocratic family at the early age of 16, and wound up having a son by him at the tender age of 17, only for him to abandon us and leave the island after I learned that he wasn't who I thought he was. So, my son took my name, my father's name, and we lived with my parents for the first years of Matthew's life, until we built my home on the back corner of my Dad's land, just down the hill from them. Since I was already finished with my schooling, I went to work with my Dad, as an apprentice shipbuilder, helping him repair and build ships and other carpentry work, just as other generations before us had done back in Ireland where my Grandfather was from. My Dad only had two girls to carry on his work, and me being the oldest, I took on the task of following him and learning the trade from a young age, but my true passion was for art. I loved to paint, draw and sculpt, but in Tortuga among the pirates, there wasn't much appreciation for an artist. So, now at the age of 25, I still helped my father, and worked in one of the bars called 'The Tavern' in the main part of the port city while my son spent most of his time with my Mom at our home, and going to the one room school down the valley. In my spare time, I practiced learning to handle a sword and pistols, and taught Matt, now at the age of 7 and had grown to be a bigger, tougher boy than most, how to handle them as well, just as a precaution. Life was pretty good for the most part.

That was until the East India Trading Company came along.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Tavern Sisters Take A Stand**_

After the East India Trading Company came to be and started taking over our seas, Tortuga changed dramatically. The majority of the pirates were caught, or went out of the business to prevent from being caught and hanged. Life in Tortuga took a turn for the worst. Without any ships to repair, my father's ship building business was all but gone. He started doing any carpentry work he could gets his hands on, even resorted to building barrels for the few ships that came to port. People started hopping on ships and moving off the island, heading for the new colonies, leaving Tortuga almost a ghost town of empty buildings and boarded up shops. One of those leaving was our old bar owner at the Tavern, giving the bar to me as he left.

"Ye've been a great help to me, but I cannot stay any longer. I'm too old for this life now. I'm going to join me daughter on the main land." he said as he handed me the large wrought iron key to the bar, "Good luck, Anna. The bar is yours."

I took that old key and tried to make the best of things.

So, I was pulling double shifts at the Tavern, and even Shay came to work at the Tavern once she turned 16 to help with supporting our family. We would overhear stories from the remaining sailors and few pirate patrons as we went about our work. These remaining pirates weren't the easy-going, somewhat peaceful lot I was used to. They were rough, and mean, and often tried to overtake the bar while I was running it, or tried taking advantage of my sister and I, so I almost always came in brandishing at least one kind of weapon, be it a sword or pistol, and always kept a dirk hidden in the top flap of my tall, black boots while I was serving. I kept an extra pistol behind the counter with my sister, never letting her past the main bar, and had taught her how to USE it, just in case. The men were scraggly, unkempt, and tough looking, and would often yank my plaid tartan skirt to get my attention to refill their mugs or try to pull me around by my long hair to get me to sit in their laps...I would just yank back, pull loose of their grips, and keep going. Until one day I got tired of it. I put boots similar to mine on my sister, giving her another dirk to hide in them, and pulled her curly blonde hair back into a beaded kerchief to keep it out of the reach of the men. I kept my long cotton shirt on, but chose to not wear my bodice. I left the skirts behind for the day, trading them instead for a pair of britchees, a baldric and a polished steel cutlass, and braided back my long red and blonde-streaked hair into several strands of braided cord and beads which I had whittled from scraps of wood from the shop. I tucked my shirt into my black britchees, and wore a black vest instead, using it to cover the pistol I had wrapped tightly in my dingy-white sash. The regulars had a hoot with that, instead of telling their usual pirate and treasure tales, they were teasing me, and trying to take my sword from my belt. One big brute of a man got up from his chair, raised his hands, and threw the mug he had been drinking from, sending it crashing and shattering only inches away from my head, as rum splattered all over the wall and floor. Shay's eyes grew wide, and she ducked behind the bar as a long, loud voice came from behind me as I was giving an annoyed look at the mess.

_Great, more for me to clean up tonight..._

"Anne!!! Ye getting too slow on refilling my rum, lass! If ye be payin' attention to yer customers instead of trying to look like a lad, then ye might make better around here! Ye might even find ye a MAN who could stand ya!" bellowed the man. It was Bart, a frequent visitor to the Tavern, who was always getting on my nerves in one way or another. _Great..._

I turned to face him, and found all eyes staring my way, watching to see what I'd do. I began talking, in a low, soft tone...

"Bart, first off, I only wear these britchees to keep your GRUBBY hands off my skirts. Second off, I don't want a man from these parts because they are all filthy idiots, LIKE YOU, and thirdly, you haven't paid me in WEEKS, so WHY should I pay attention to refilling your mug, the one you just broke by the way, and I should make YOU pick up the shards from the floor!"

By the time I got done, I was shouting, and Bart was fuming! He lunged towards me, and I pulled my sword, dashed to the side, and punched my elbow into his back with every bit of strength I had, sending him crashing a heap to the floor. I jumped, landing my knees into his chest, my sword at his throat, and my other hand poised ready to grab my pistol if he dared move.

The other men started to get up from their tables when Shay came out from behind the bar holding two of my largest blunderbuss pistols, stood before them all as she lifted the pistols up from her side, pointing them at the crowd, her eyes and face clearly indicating that she meant business!

"I wouldn't do that if I were you all..."

She looked MENACING! _Good girl_, I thought. I_ taught her well!_

A pirate near the front stepped one small shuffling step forward towards Shay, and I pulled my pistol behind my vest from my sash, keeping my eyes on the shocked and drunken Bart that still lay below me and got to my feet, keeping the blade of my cutlass right below the whiskers on his stubbly black beard.

The pirate spoke to my sister, "Awww now come on luv, you can't tell us that ye expect us to believe that you can really use those things, now do ye?" He took another small step towards my sister.

"TRY ME!" shouted Shay, as she cocked the guns, simultaniously as I raised mine and cocked it in the direction of the sound.

The pirate's eyes went wide, and he backed up a step. Good idea considering he had three cocked pistols pointed directly at him!

"I don't suggest ye try either of us mister, and that goes for the lot of ya." I said as I finally turned my head, glaring angrily at them all, "I want you all to take yer seats, and don't even think about moving one inch towards my sister, or I WILL make ye pay for it!" My Irish accent and the pirate talk I tried so hard to avoid only came out when I was mad, and it was annoying to me that I was to the point of speaking that way. I rolled my eyes.

They all sat silently, and Shay kept the pistols on them, as I turned my attention back to Bart.

"And you...I want the pay you owe me, and for the mess ye've caused," I reached down and grabbed the worn leather sack at his side that was full of gold coins, ripped the string holding it, and jiggled it, "That ought about do it...now GET OUT OF MY BAR! And I don't want to see you back in here, ye hear me?"

I let go of the stunned pirate, and he clambered to his feet, stumbling in his drunken daze out the door, never looking back.

" And as for the rest of ye, get out. I'm closing early tonight."

Groans and moans came from the crowd of men as they left and drunkedly walked down the near empty, dimly lit main street and disappeared into the fog. I pulled the heavy wooden door to and lowered the beam, closing the door to the bar and locking the big brass lock, and placed the old iron key back into the hidden pocket of the inside of my vest. Shay heaved a long, relieved sigh, and we both leaned against the rough wooden door frame, and looked at each other, and began to laugh.

_What a night!_

We cleaned up the mess, picked up the knocked over chairs, mopped the floors, walked together to our horses that were tied behind the bar, being careful to keep our pistols at the ready.

I spoke to my black and white horse, "Come on, Hammer. Let's go home", as Shay, our horses, and I galloped off down the street, talking to each other and laughing about the night's events together on our way home.


	3. Chapter 3

_**WHITE SAILS**_

It had been a few days since our adventure in the bar, and I was sitting under a tree up past our home up on the side of the hill, whittling beads like I always do to relax. Matt was running with our black kitten, Black Jackie, through the field below me, picking flowers to take home to my Mom. Mom had insisted I keep the bar closed for a few days after my sister and I come home that night telling her of our problematic customers.

"NO WAY will I let my daughters get hurt! You will shut down that bar, ye' hear me? At least until Pete sails out of port, then you can re-open."

Mom was being over protective as usual. I thought Shay and I did fine handling the situation. She should be proud. _Oh well...that's a Mom for ya'_... I thought as I glanced up at my own son teasing the cat with a reed of grass.

I giggled at Matt and Black Jackie, and then something caught my eye.

White sails in the horizon, coming from main port, almost here. I shoved my beads into my purple leather coin bag hanging at the side of my belt, and put my knife back into it's place inside my boot, and stood up, peering into the distance. The sunlight was in my eyes. I couldn't tell what flag that was.

"Matt, grab Jackie. We've got to get home. I need to go see what's going on."

"Yes, Mom," said Matt, as he jerked up our cat and began to run beside me back down the valley to home, flowers and cat in hand. We burst through the door to my Mom and Dad's home, out of breath, and startling Mom.

"What on earth?" she started, but Matt sat the cat down and looked up, handing her the flowers with a huge grin on face, "Aww, those are nice, thank you baby." She said, taking the flowers from her grandson and then turning to me, "But, Anna, what's wrong?"

"Sails...white...off shore...here...ran home..." I stuttered through still trying to catch my breath.

"Okay, that's a start...sit down, calm down and tell me what's going on."

I sat down next to Mom at the table and explained about the sails, as best as I could through my excitement

She told me to go investigate, but Matt was staying with her.

"Take your pistol, and don't get your skirts dirty. Come let me know as soon as you can,"

_Another typical MOM answer_, I thought, as I saddled Hammer and rode off towards town.

Little did I know that those white sails would change my life.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Winds of Change**_

I was tying up Hammer just as the boat I'd seen in the distance was docking. I started walking slowly towards the ship across the dock, when I finally was able to make out the design on the flag fluttering in the breeze on the main mast.

"What's an East India Trading Company vessel doing here?" I said to myself out loud, confused for sure now.

"It's come for supplies and to recruit a few sailors who'd like to make some money, if it's all the same to you, m'lady," said a voice from aboard the ship. I looked up at the railing, and there stood a tall man, wearing a blue uniform and white wig, obviously a commander of the Royal Navy of some sorts, if all those medals and ribbons meant anything. He continued speaking to me, "I've been told there are some decent sailors here that could use the income, and to prevent them from becoming pirates that we'd eventually have to take down, I'd rather have them on our side, on our ships, being of some use to us instead of getting in my way."

"SHIPS? You mean, there's more than one of you coming here?" I exclaimed, now beginning to worry that the EITC was really coming to shut my beloved home port down.

Two crewmen lowered a ramp down to the deck and the commander walked towards me as he talked. From his gait I could tell he was a well-trained man.

"Just one more, which happens to be the one that needs the extra hands. Do you know of anyone who needs a job, can sail, and could use a change of..." he looked around the almost desserted town, gave a harsh look at the port, and continued, "...scenery? The pay would be worth it."

I looked up at the man, and raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a sly little smile, "What kind of job? I feel the winds of change coming on."


End file.
